![]() ![]() We get to know them, and him, through the delights of his young imagination and the economic challenges he and his parents faced, sharing memories of the excitement of going out for high tea with his mother and his introduction to the love of movies by his grandmother, his departure for England at the age of eleven to join a seminary, where he was sexually molested by a priest, and his subsequent return to Ireland and a series of unfulfilling low-paying dead-end jobs, until a friend suggested he audition with an amateur theater company, where he felt the happiness and sense of belonging that changed his direction and launched him on a professional career in acting, and, with it, a bohemian lifestyle.īyrne’s candid commentary on both the fun and the pitfalls of stardom included silly jokes and hilarious imitations of the different curtain calls of a variety of performers, and a visit in Venice with a drunken Richard Burton that made him recognize his own issues with alcohol addiction. The signature depth and emotional honesty for which he is known and lauded are seen and felt again here to perfection, along with his potent understatement and natural ease on stage, as he takes us on his personal path from rags to riches to rehab to reminiscences, exposing the most cherished and distressing memories of the people, places, and experiences that shaped him and continue to haunt his mind – the eponymous ghosts he walks with inside of himself.īeginning with his working-class childhood as the oldest of six siblings on the outskirts of Dublin, Byrne introduces us to his family, community, and environs, conjuring visions of “a now almost vanished Ireland” and the real-life characters from his past, many now departed, with his descriptive detail and shifts in his mimicking voice and demeanor. In addition to having more than 80 films and a variety of TV series to his credit, the Tony-nominated actor has brought his mastery to Broadway in the Eugene O’Neill classics A Moon for the Misbegottten, A Touch of the Poet, and Long Day’s Journey into Night. Directed by Emmy Award winner Lonny Price, Byrne, now 72, reflects on the ups and downs of his life’s journey in his own words, in a tour-de-force solo performance that is poetic and lyrical in its language, witty and poignant in its content, and thoroughly captivating and affecting in its delivery. Adapted from his best-selling 2021 memoir of the same name, Walking with Ghosts by Irish stage and screen star Gabriel Byrne has already enjoyed highly acclaimed runs in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin before coming directly to Broadway for a limited engagement of 75 performances at the Music Box Theatre.
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